Vitamin D and vitamin D analogs as cancer chemopreventive agents.

Epidemiologic studies have associated vitamin D, attained through nutrition and sun exposure, with reduced cancer risk. Although dose-limiting hypercalcemia has limited the use of natural vitamin D in cancer prevention, several promising new synthetic vitamin D analogs (deltanoids) are under development. Examples are KH-1060, EB-1089, 1alpha-hydroxyvitamin D5, vitamin D2, and QW-1624F2-2. Clinical targets for deltanoids include colon, prostate, and breast. Studies to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the observed efficacy of deltanoids are ongoing. The vitamin D receptor, a steroid/thyroid receptor superfamily member, appears to control most deltanoid effects on proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, and angiogenesis.